My name is Chris Radcliffe, founder of Ironclad Fitness.

I’m fully certified through NASM in personal training, corrective exercise, performance enhancement, and nutrition—but like most people, I didn’t start with clarity or direction. I started needing discipline, structure, and a way to protect the gains I was working so hard to build.

Over the past 20+ years, I’ve trained and competed across multiple athletic disciplines, including bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongman, and armored combat. That breadth of experience taught me a critical truth early on: not everything that looks impressive actually works—and many paths in fitness lead to dead ends.

My training journey has taken me primarily across the United States, with a period spent training in Switzerland, alongside driven, high-level athletes who valued execution over ego. But the greatest influence on my development came from making Gold’s Gym Venice—The Mecca of Bodybuilding—my home for over 15 years. Being surrounded daily by living legends of the sport gave me direct exposure to training and nutrition methods that have stood the test of time.

I didn’t inherit this knowledge overnight. I earned it by observing, testing, refining, and applying what actually produced results—while discarding what didn’t.

Like many lifters, I once struggled to understand which exercises, training styles, and nutritional approaches truly worked for me. Instead of continuing down a trial-and-error path fueled by fad diets and recycled advice, I simplified everything. I learned that food doesn’t need to be stressful or extreme—it’s fuel for your body’s fire. When training and nutrition are aligned intelligently, progress becomes predictable.